Humidifying means



March 194a.

HUMIDIFYING MEANS Filed'April 22, 1940 w. E. BAIER v 2313,041

Patented Mar. 9, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE HUMIDIFYING MEANS Willard E. Baier, Ontario, Calif. I

Application April 22, 1940, Serial No. 331,043

2 Claims.

This invention relates to humidifying means, and it has for an object the provision of greatly simplified and economical means for moistening surfaces over which air is to be passed, and for passing air over moistened surfaces. In short, an object of my invention is to provide a simple and economical humidifying device.

Having these and other objects, uses, and advantages in mind, my invention comprises, a an example, the construction shown by way of illustration in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of my invention;

Figure 2 is a rear elevational and sectional view thereof taken at 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a partial cross-sectional view taken at 3-3 of Figure 2.

A very large number of devices has been suggested heretofore for passing air over a moistened surface, and many contrivances have been constructed for renewing the moisture upon these surfaces. These have included fans and devices of various sorts rotatable in conjunction with the fans for presenting moistened surfaces to the action of air from the fans. Many of these have been provided with fabric over the surface, the fabric being woven from animal or vegetable fibres, or from wire, and being intended as a means to pick up the water or moistening material and distribute it for action by air from the fan. In actual practice, however, it is found that such an effect is not gained to advantage in the use of such devices, for the water tends to clog or blind over the surface of the fabric 50 that the air or gas does not pass through and good evaporation is not obtained.

Again, some prior devices have been made dependent upon the passing of the air through the device for the operation of the mechanism which is intended to renew the moisture upon the evapcrating surface. While it may be possible that these can be made to operate under a given set of conditions, any disturbance of those conditions, such as a substantial lessening of the volume of air, as by reduction of the speed of the fan, may cause the moistening part of the device to cease operating entirely.

In my device, these and other difiiculties and objections are obviated. Numerous advantages are gained. Among these are'ease and simplicity of construction and certainty of operation.

As illustrated in the present embodiment, my device consists of a base I I, which may be made with solid sides and bottom so as to provide a container for the liquid to be evaporated. Suitably mounted or supported above the base is a motor 12. Extending forward from the motor is the shaft I3, and upon thi is mounted a series of blades l4, constituting a fan. f

Removably mounted upon a bail l5, and'eccentrically supported by the end of the shaft l3, the moistener comprises a spiral coil 16 which is preferably made fiat, that is, lying substantially in one plane, and which may be joined as at I! to an exterior circumferential rim 18. At its interior end the spiral coil I6 is fastened upon the hub l9, which is rotatably mounted upon and held in place by the pindle 20, of the bail l5, which is preferably pivoted, as at 2|, for ready removal of the moistener.

The spiral coil l6 may be made with any desired number of turns and may be either solid or tubular. I prefer to form it with a tear-drop cross-section, as more particularly appears in Figure 3. This cross-sectional form is not regarded by me as absolutely essential, although it does provide a smoother and more even flow of the air over the surface of the spiral coil IS. The liquid 22 may be adjusted to the desired height within the base ll so as to submerge as much of the spiral coil l6 as may be desired.

The operation of my device, which is very simple and which is thought to be obvious from an inspection of the drawing, is as follows:

The operation of the motor l2 causes its shaft l3 to turn, rotating the blades l4 and driving air through the spiral coil Hi. The hub I9 is held in place by and rotates about the spindle 20. The hub is ccentrically supported upon and directly actuated by the turning of the shaft IS. The direction of rotation of the blades and the spiral coil is indicated by the arrow in Figure 2. Upon rotation of the spiral coil l6 partly submerged in the liquid, the liquid is caused to run along the windings of the spiral coil, eventually approaching the hub l9 at the inner end of the spiral coil and thus moistening all or a very substantial part of the entire spiral coil. Using water in ordinary air, it will be found that the moistening of the spiral coil 16 is still satisfactorily complete even when the liquid falls to a relatively low level within its container. The spiral coil is, of course, so arranged with reference to the direction of motion as to cause the liquid to flow inwardly along its successive turns.

It will thus be evident that I have provided a device capable of continuously presenting a large area of moistened surface to the action of air from the fan and, at the same time, have made impossible any clogging or blinding over of the moistened surface by the liquid and have provided a free and positive passage for the air through and over the moistened surfaces, even when the successive turns of the spiral coil l6 are made relatively very close to one another.

A further and important feature and advantage of my invention, as embodied in the device shown, is the ready removability and demountability of the elements comprising the moistened surface. It will be evident that by merely pulling the spiral coil [6 forward, that is, to the left as viewed in Figure 3, the bail IE will turn about the pivots 2|, and the hub 19 will be disengaged from the end of the shaft [3. The

disengagement may be temporary or can be made more permanent by simply removing the spindle 20 from the hub I9. These removals are very quickly and easily made, thus leaving the remainder of the device to be operated simply as a fan, if desired. The important, practical advantages of being thus able to convert the device'from a humidifying means to a fan and from afan back to a humidifying means with the greatest of ease will be readily appreciated.

Itwill be understood that in referring to the hub [9 as being directly driven by the shaft [3, reference is mad to the immediate engagement of the' exterior of the shaft with the interior of the. hub. In the embodiment shown this is simply a frictional drive.

I. am aware that numerous changes and modificationsmay be introduced Without departing from. the spirit of my invention asdescribed hereinabove and as defined in the appended claims. All such obvious changes as come within the scope of the appended claims are intended to be embraced thereby.

I claim:

1. A humidifying means comprising a base, a motor mounted above and supported by said base, a fan mounted upon the shaft of said motor and driven thereby, a circular moistening element comprising a spiralcoil lying substantially in one plane, a spindle pivotally mounted upon said base, said moistening element being 'rotatably and removably mounted upon said spindle and being eccentrically, rotatably, and removably supported upon said shaft and in front of said fan by said spindle and being direotly driven by said shaft, said base being formed to comprise a container for liquid below said spiral coil and surrounding the lower portion thereof.

2. A humidifying means comprising a driven shaft with a fan mounted thereon and driven thereby, a circular moistening element comprising a spiral coil lying substantially in one plane, said moistening element being rotatably and removably mounted upon a spindle and being eccentrically, rotatably, and removably supported upon said shaft and in. front of said fan by said spindle and being directly driven by said shaft, and a container for liquid below said spiral coil andsurrounding the lower portion thereof.

WILLARD E. BAIER. 

